Chapter 168 Chapter 168

Chapter 168 Chapter 168
Mia woke slowly to the soft weight of the afternoon still hanging in the room. For a few seconds she didn’t move. The light had shifted since she fell asleep, warmer and lower against the curtains. Her leg ached in a dull, steady way under the boot, but the rest of her felt heavier than usual, the kind of sleep that came after too many days of tension finally letting go. She turned her head and Kai was still asleep beside her.

He lay on his back, one arm resting across his stomach, and the other near the edge of the mattress where her hand had been earlier. His face looked less drawn than when she first arrived, the sharp tiredness softened by real rest and his breathing was even. For a moment she just watched him, then a soft knock at the door broke it. Victoria stepped in without waiting, followed by a man in a light jacket carrying a medical bag and a young staff member with two paper bags of food and a third bag that clearly held more fruit. The smell of warm bread and something savory moved into the room with them.
   Victoria’s eyes moved over the bed, then to Mia. “You’re both up here. This is Dr. Lang and he’s here for the evening check on Kai and, if you want it, a quick look at the boot and the swelling. We also brought food. Proper food and fruit.”
   Mia pushed herself up carefully against the pillows. “There’s already fruit in the kitchen.”
   “I know,” Victoria said. “I brought more anyway. He needs options that don’t require thought.”
Kai stirred at the voices. His eyes opened slowly, blinking against the light, then focused on Victoria, the doctor, and finally Mia. He didn’t sit up immediately.
   “You’re still here,” he said to Mia, voice rough with sleep.
   “I told you I would be.”
   Victoria set the bags on the dresser. “We’re going to the kitchen to sort the food. Dr. Lang will stay with you for a few minutes. Mia, come with me. You need to eat something that isn’t half a container of soup.”

Mia glanced at Kai and he gave a small nod, already shifting to sit up against the headboard so the doctor could check him. She carefully swung the boot off the bed, accepted the quiet hand Victoria offered for balance, and followed her out into the hallway and down the stairs. The kitchen was bright and quiet. Victoria unpacked the bags with efficient movement, containers of grilled chicken, rice, roasted vegetables, a separate box of soft rolls, and an unnecessary amount of fruit that she lined up on the counter as if the existing bowl near the window didn’t exist.
   Mia leaned against the island, taking some of the weight off her leg. “You didn’t have to bring all of this.”
   “I did, the house has food but It doesn’t always have people who remember to eat it when they’re busy being stubborn.” Victoria opened one of the containers and set a plate in front of her. “You need to sit and eat. We have a few minutes before we go back up.”
Mia lowered herself onto a stool and picked up a fork, she hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the first bite. Victoria leaned against the opposite counter, arms loosely crossed, watching her for a moment before she spoke.
   “He missed you,” she said. “He won’t say it the way most people would. He doesn’t like admitting the softer parts out loud if he can avoid it. But every time he came up far enough to form a full sentence, he asked if you were back yet. When the answer was no, he went quiet in a way that wasn’t just the medication.”
   Mia looked down at her plate. “I missed him too. Even when I was angry about the perfume ad and the lipstick and all of it. I still wanted to be here.”
   “I know.” Victoria’s voice stayed practical, but not cold. “The two of you make everything more complicated than it needs to be, and somehow still more stable than it looks from the outside. He was worse when you weren’t in the house. That’s not an opinion but it's what the staff and I both saw.”
   Mia took another bite, slower this time. “Is he actually better, or is he just pushing himself to look better because I’m here?”
   “Both, probably. The doctor will tell us the medical version. The rest we’ll see when he’s fully on his feet.” Victoria glanced toward the ceiling. “Finish enough of that to count as a meal. Then we go back up.”
They stayed in the kitchen a little longer. Victoria checked her tablet once, answered a short message, and then packed a second plate for Kai without asking if he wanted it. Mia drank water, flexed her good foot against the rung of the stool, and let the ordinary sounds of the kitchen settle some of the leftover nerves from the return.

When they went back upstairs, Dr. Lang was packing his bag and Kai was sitting on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor, a small packet of vitamins open on the nightstand. He was chewing one when they entered, jaw working slowly, eyes clearer than they had been an hour before. He looked better and the color was closer to normal. The heavy, half-present look from the video call days was mostly gone. When he saw them he braced one hand on the mattress and stood without help, testing his balance for a second before he fully straightened.
    Victoria stopped just inside the door. “You’re up.”
   “I’m up.” Kai finished the vitamin with a swallow of water. “Lang says the worst of it is clear. Residual fatigue is expected but no neurological flags so I can function.”
   Dr. Lang zipped his bag. “He can function within limits but no driving yet and no intense physical load today. Just hydration and regular food. If the fog returns or he has any dizziness, I want a call immediately.”
   Victoria’s expression tightened. “Define ‘limits.’”
   Kai answered before the doctor could. “Limits that include me being at the track tomorrow.” The room went still.  
    Victoria turned fully toward him. “Absolutely not.”
   “I have simulator time and a system check scheduled. The team is expecting me and I’m not staying in this bed for another day because of a sleeping pill I already slept off.”
   “You were barely responsive two days ago,” Victoria said, voice sharp and controlled. “So you don’t get to decide you’re fully cleared because you can stand up and swallow a vitamin.”
   Kai’s jaw set. “Lang just said the worst is clear. I’m standing, I’m talking and let's not forget, I’m eating. I’m going to the track tomorrow.”
   Dr. Lang looked between them, then spoke carefully. “From a purely medical standpoint, if he continues to improve through the night and shows no residual impairment in the morning, light track activity simulator and observation only, I would want a final check before he leaves the property. But complete rest for another full day is the safer recommendation, not the only viable one.”
   Victoria stared at the doctor. “You’re agreeing with him.”
   “I’m telling you what is medically acceptable, not what is safest. Rest is the safest option and if you return to your normal schedule, it should be gradual and limited.”
   Kai folded his arms. “Then it’s decided. Tomorrow, just the simulator and no car time if that makes everyone more comfortable. But I’m not sitting here while the team works without me.”
    Victoria’s voice dropped into the tone she used when she was done being polite. “You are not deciding this alone. You were chemically compromised for days. Your judgment about your own readiness is exactly the thing that needs checking, not trusting at face value.”
   “My judgment is fine.”
   “Your judgment took an unmarked sleeping pill from someone who should never have been in this house.”

The words landed hard. Kai’s expression flickered, then settled into something colder.
   “That was a mistake,” he said. “I’m not repeating it. And I’m not using it as a reason to disappear from my own schedule for longer than necessary.”
Mia had stayed quiet near the dresser, watching them. The argument had the tight, familiar shape of every disagreement they had about control and image and how much risk was acceptable. She shifted her weight off the boot and spoke before Victoria could answer.
    “If the doctor clears him in the morning, and it’s simulator only, and someone from the medical team is present, then fighting him on it is only going to make him dig in harder.” She looked at Kai. “But if you feel even slightly off, you stop. No need pushing through it to prove a point.”
   Kai met her eyes. “I can agree to that.”
   Victoria pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose for a second. “I hate this.”
   “I know,” Kai said. “You’re still going to manage it.”
   Dr. Lang cleared his throat. “I’ll be here at seven tomorrow for the final check. If anything changes overnight headache, nausea, confusion, or imbalance you call me before seven. Understood?”
   “Understood,” Kai said.
   Victoria exhaled, already shifting into damage-control planning. “Then I’ll adjust the morning calendar. Simulator only, lots of medical presence, no press that's totally off the list, no guests too especially since the last one, and no extra load. And if I see even a hint that you’re not clear, I’m pulling the session myself.”
   Kai almost smiled. “I expect nothing less.”

Dr. Lang left with a final nod. Victoria collected the empty soup container and the extra fruit she had insisted on bringing, still radiating controlled displeasure, and followed him out after telling them food would be sent up again in an hour whether they asked for it or not. When the door closed, the room settled back into quiet.
Kai sat down on the edge of the bed again, the brief argument having taken more out of him than he wanted to show. Mia crossed to him and stopped in front of where he sat.
   “You’re really going tomorrow,” she said.
   “I am.”
   “You’re still not fully yourself.”
   “I’m close enough.” He reached for her hand and pulled her a step closer, careful of the boot. “You didn’t come all the way back here so I could stay in this room avoiding the rest of my life. I’ll be careful. That’s as much as I can give you tonight.”
Mia looked down at him clearer, standing on his own, already arguing his way back into the schedule and felt the complicated mix of relief and residual worry settle into something she could carry.
   “Then I’m coming with you,” she said. “To the simulator. I’m not sitting in this house waiting for another update.”
   Kai’s fingers tightened around hers. “I can live with that.”